Over the past decade, Ashley has been salvaging timber and appropriating discarded wood furniture to construct her works. She is a strong believer in the power of contemporary art and design as a means of tackling pressing environmental and societal issues.

Ashley has an established a track record of breaking down disciplinary boundaries through her practice, which spans sculpture, contemporary craft and critical design. She has steered away from narrow disciplinary boundaries, pursuing furniture into the expanded field as a way of addressing pressing environmental issues including natural resource use, consumer waste, deforestation and wildlife habitat reductions. Her work was recently curated into the landmark international exhibit Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking featuring the women who have been at the forefront of the studio craft movement in wood, and she was the winner of the 2021 Clarence Prize in Hobart, Tasmania.